Jail for smoking meth with blowtorch near gunpowder

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A San Mateo County man who started a fire by smoking meth with a blowtorch near a container of gunpowder has been sentenced to 45 days in jail.

John Blanchard, 65, pleaded no contest Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court to drugs and weapons violations.

On Oct. 1, deputies were called to a fire in a storage yard in the unincorporated community of Princeton near the Half Moon Bay Airport. They found Blanchard standing outside a camper that he had parked there illegally, sheriff’s Lt. Ray Lunny said.

Investigators determined that the fire on the 200 block of Yale Avenue had been started by a defective propane blowtorch that Blanchard had been using to smoke methamphetamine, Lunny said.

Blanchard left the blowtorch on a dryer, causing a nearby container of gunpowder to explode, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Besides the blowtorch, deputies found a loaded rifle, ammunition, a container of black powder and an unopened safe containing more than 300 feet of detonation cord, Lunny said.

Blanchard, who has a previous drug conviction, was also placed on three years of probation by Judge Lisa Novak.